Royal Family Reunion
- Hmm, another royals cold open. This time without Larrys' King Charles or Emmas Camilla. Instead we get Jacks' Harry and Ayoades' Meghan. These impressions have improved.
- We also get Freddies' William and Annabels Kate. These impressions are OK. Not doing much for me but they've been given serviceable material. I did chuckle a bit at the "prince ginger pubes" crack, though.
- Oh, THERE'S George and Emma. And THERE'S George as a creepy, Palpatine like Prince Andrew.
- Yeah, Larry and Especially George are really saving this sketch for me.
- Good thing they cut it short just as Larry flubbed his last line in a big way (maybe THAT'S why this one isn't on YouTube yet? They've made these kind of edits before). B-
Monologue
- Ooh, another Jamie Demetriou type cold open with a bit of two man physical shtick (instead of Chevy like pratfalls he's doing some rough and tumble action movie like fight stunts which for some reason cause the announcer to say his name about three times as if he didn't walk out unexpectedly).
- Next, Danny's making this whole Monologue a "WILL HE SAY IT?" Thing but with the C-word he allegedly isn't allowed to say since he used a similar T-word in reference to a former Prime Minister on live television? Already this is amazing.
- Another way this episode is much like Jamie Demetrious' monologue is that Danny gets a sudden visit from the costar of the current TV show our host is on. She didn't add much but it was nice to see that level of semi continuity between episodes.
- Yeah, once he started talking about all the different accents he could do, this started to go a bit downhill. Not that it's was bad, it just meandered a bit too much. Interesting to learn he's distantly descended from some royalty.
- Nice of him to end with a very sincere thoughtful uplifting statement on being a good, true to yourself person in the age of social media before transitioning that into...another c-word mislead?
- Yeah, this monologue got off to a strong start but ended in a rather strangely unhinged way. It almost lost its own thread to the point where it felt like a few different monologue concepts rolled into one since they couldn't fully settle or decide on just one.
- Still, it was entertaining if not a little confusing. It's just the type of monologue you'd have to really be keyed into to be able to understand (and in that regard, it doesn't really help that the YouTube clip of it has been heavily censored). C+
The Tube
- Huh, this is the THIRD type of the specific sketch they've given us in less than a full calendar year?
- I liked the showcase for Freddie and I liked the gag of Jack choking to death on a Boba pearl while driving. You know those things are chewable, right?
- I liked the basic gag being the dramatizing of how stupidly simple operating a tube is but the gag of him repeatedly pressing the "backwards" and "open door" buttons instead of the "forward" button would get a bit old if this wasn't dressed up like an action thriller trailer.
- This isn't my favorite Freddie showcase of this season but it's still nice to see SNL UK fully knowing how to use its newest cast members right out of the gate.
- The gag of Freddie taking until Annabel delivers her baby the following month to simply press the right button after heavily sweating it out Airplane!-style was a funny little detail but sadly once you take away all the bells and whistles from this one you start to see how derivative it truly is. C+
Victorian Pickpockets
- I like Danny, Celeste and Emmas' performances. Jack, Annabel and Larry are doing the most they can with it. Unfortunately, I don't think this is really going anywhere.
- The premise of a modern CPS worker investigating the the Artful Dodger/Oliver Twist gang for child abuse and neglect just feels like it's too...basic to be that funny (especially with the whole "lol implied pedophillia" aspect to some of the jokes.
- I actually thought that Emma might have been this weeks' musical guest, Sasha Keable, when she entered the scene. Speaking of Sasha Keable, I quite liked her performances and the whole "Adele meets Tori Kelly" vibe to her sound. I thought I'd just add that here since I don't have much else to say about this sketch. C-
Marriage Blessing
- Ooh hey, something similar to this happened to me in my life (not at this level of intensity though)
- The interplay and role play between Danny and Freddie makes this for me. Emma and Celeste were great in this, too.
- I liked the twist of this being another in a series of low level diamond heists. B-
Chill As Hell Gay Guy In His Twenties
- Huh, very odd Pythonesque choice to transition to this actual pretape set in an Oceans' Eleven style heist out of a live sketch with a surprise heist ending, but I liked it.
- Part of me was hoping that the conceit of this sketch would just be an ongoing list of increasingly useless and/or unnecessary heist crew members...but having Jack just play a...whatever the exact opposite of a heightened version of himself is was OK.
- I liked how positive everyone turned out to be towards Jack's character at the end as it was revealed he's pretty much just part of the heist crew for pure moral support. Annabels' cameo was OK if not a tiny bit convoluted.
- Even the "it was a dream" ending was just odd enough to work for me...but the additional ending of Jacks' agent calling him to offer him a role where his character dies of either AIDS or an assault depending on the viewers choice was a teeny bit too jarring. B-
Paint Colors Meeting
- This feels like a variation of that "What A Life" sketch from Nicolas' episode crossed with that ice cream tasting sketch Benedict Cumberbatch did on SNL US in 2022.
- I do like the twist of Danny just straight up drinking paint just to get some insane out of body vision quest experience to base the name off of. I do like the "blink and you'll miss it" visual gag of Danny bring hooked up to an IV drip while sitting in an office chair.
- Having Danny's character just straight up explode from drinking too much paint and then have his coworkers decide to name the resulting shade "R.I.P. Gary" in his honor was about as good of an ending as this sketch could've hoped for. B+
Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania
- Paddys' Best Jokes: MP Drinks Beer, Worlds' Tallest Tory, Greens In Crisis, Christa Pike (good on ol' Pads for making those as classy as he could)
- Anias' Best Jokes: Keir Starmers' Old Seat, Prostate Cancer Research
- Paddy and Ania calling on an "average person" to weigh in on the Gaza situation was a fun little format break.
- Somewhere, Brian Doyle Murray stirs as Ania Magliano delivers this absurdly long list of items that Prince Andrew stained with his own semen.
- Not sure what to make of Emmas' delivery robot commentary but at least it was concise and underplayed. Felt like something from Seth Meyer's solo era of Weekend Update on SNL US.
- I like how Paddy and Ania are playing thos whole "hosts dating" joke (speaking of something previously done during the BDM era of SNL US Update).
- That spider joke from Paddy should've been cut. It was too long and awkward to work for me.
- I liked this George commentary. I immediately got a kick out of him removing the cheapest bald cap wig ever upon coming out. Feels like an improvement on something either Kate McKinnon, Chris Redd or Pete Davidson would've done on SNL US Update during their own Covid era.
- Having a guest commentator call out a small omission on the Update map is something I don't think I've seen on any SNL Update feature before.
- I do appreciate this having an extra meta layer of George just using this Update feature to bemoan his lack of airtime on the week of his birthday. If anyone in this cast has earned their right to do such a thing on this show by this point, it's definitely him.
- That was a fun Update even if it was very mildly uneven, too. B-
British Armageddon
- It's a bit strange to see a sketch that just opens with a (probably A.I. generated, sadly...knowing this show) shot of an asteroid heading toward Earth get an extended round if (possibly canned if Hammed is just straight up delivering his lines over it) applause (maybe not that strange in 2026, but still...)
- This sketch feels a little too SNL US but I like how it's being played by Danny and Hammed. I'm getting slight "Alas Smith & Jones" vibes from it.
- I don't love or hate this one. It's a semi- unique and quirky premise that's just kinda...there and being elevated as much as it can be by its performers. C+
Boy Band Reunion (Older And Wiser)
- This was another very simple premise but it was pretty perfectly cast and performed. The way this was written really made this pop, too since the song had plenty of great lines.
- Given that Celeste is quite prominently featured in this and it's basically the type of musical number her group/show "Lazy Susan" would do all the time...I'm assuming she had a major hand in writing this? Maybe she saw how the X-Factor sketch blew up online and was inspired to create something similar?
- I'm guessing this is a riff on the group "Take That"? I'm not familiar with the UK boy band scene of the early 2000s but I have heard OF "Take That" so I'm guessing this mostly them and an amalgam of some others? Ah, it doesn't totally matter. I've seen enough US boy bands have years later middle aged reunion tours. This is a universal concept.
- I liked Larry's inclusion as the incredibky cheesy host introducing them and Jacks' inclusion as the member who passed away in a boat "accident".
- I do agree that Al probably had the best voice of the group. Their argument break down just before the final chorus was pretty funny. B+
Ranking SNL UK Series Two From Best To Worst
- Amelia Dimoldenberg/Rachel Chinouriri (09.26.2026)
- Danny Dyer/Sasha Keable (10.10.2026)
- Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)
- Jeff Goldblum/CMAT (09.12.2026)
Ranking All Of SNL UK From Best To Worst
- Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
- Hannah Waddingham/Myles Smith (05.09.2026)
- Amelia Dimoldenberg/Rachel Chinouriri (09.26.2026)
- Danny Dyer/Sasha Keable (10.10.2026)
- Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)
- Ncuti Gatwa/Holly Humberstone (05.16.2026)
- Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
- Jeff Goldblum/CMAT (09.12.2026)
- Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)
- Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
- Aimee Lou Wood/MEEK (05.02.2026)
- Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)
Overall Thoughts
- Well, this episode felt just a little underwhelming compared to the past couple of shows (no real strong highs or dire lows) this season but it was still a solid, consistently decent show with a host that showed he was game for just about anything right out of the gate.
- This episode had a pretty low bar to clear with Shane Gillis hosting the US show several hours later...and it obviously cleared it and that's all I really asked of it.
- Celeste, Freddie, Emma and Jack had good nights. Al, Annabel and Hammed had decent nights. Not their absolute best nights, but they still got on a bit. George didn't have a great night, but I think they realized that and made up for it as much as they could (especially with George being presented with a cake at the goodnights).
Closing Thoughts
- Next week, SNL UK returns with James Norton and The Streets. He's certainly not the James or "Jim" Norton I know...which is actually good. It'll be fun to go blind into another SNL UK with a host I know nothing about. Hope you enjoy reading my review of that one in a weeks' time when it comes out (in the absence of a new SNL US that week, of course).
- I've also written a review of this weeks' SNL US with Shane Gillis and Rosalia which you can read here if you care to. You might find that I've been a bit more generous to that episode than some. That's probably because I saw this SNL UK episode you just read my review of first.
- I'll also be coming out with a review of the SNL US season 33 finale with Steve Carrell and Usher in the coming weeks. Deej and I will also be reviewing that one on the next We Heart Hader Podcast which we just recorded with special guests John Trumbull and Darin Patterson of the SNL Nerds podcast.
- Speaking of which, we actually just released a new episode of We Heart Hader with returning guests Ajax from the Cover Wars podcast and Andrew Hunter Scholey from the podcast North Of Normal. We covered the "Test Pattern: Final Transmission" episode of Documentary Now Season Two. Hope you have as much fun listening to this one as the four of us did recording it. See you again real soon!
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